Friday, January 01, 2010

Richard Thompson guitar genius



I've been a fan of Richard Thompson all my adult life. The first "proper" concert i went to back in 1967 featured fairport Convention as the opening act, and from then on I've been a fan. His guitar playing has the ability to send shivers down my back, and also to want to pack it playing altogether. He is the standard by which I measure my progress as a player, and 40 years on I'm as far away as I ever was.
Last year he toured the UK with his "1000 years of popular music" show, and I couldn't go for one reason or another. I may have been on tour myself, or more likely been broke, but I do have the dvd of the show, featuring Richard on guitar and vocals, aided and abetted by Judith Owen on vocals and keyboard, and Debra Dobkin on percussion and vocals.
I found this video on Youtube of a recent concert performance.

I was reminded of the song when I visited Wrinkled Weasel's blog site today. The original version of this song is by Julie London, and he was waxing lyrical about her. This version features Judith Owen on vocals, but it appears that the cameraman has a fixation with Richard Thompson, so we hear her and see him. The guitar arrangement is the original Barney Kessel one I believe.

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